President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on Monday, resolved the lingering political crisis in Rivers State after a meeting with governor Siminalaye Fubara, the Minister of the FCT, Nyesom Wike, former governor Peter Odili and other key stakeholders in the state.

The meeting which was said to have been brokered by the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, was held at the State House in Abuja on Monday.

As part of the peaceful reconciliation, an 8-point resolution was signed by both parties.

One of the resolutions reached was that all impeachment proceedings initiated against Governor Fubara by the State House of Assembly should be dropped immediately.

Part of the resolution reached was that the remunerations and benefits of all members of the Rivers State House of Assembly and Staff must be reinstated immediately.

Also, all matters instituted by Governor Fubara and his team at the court shall be withdrawn immediately and the governor shall henceforth not interfere with the full funding of the State Assembly.

Another resolution reached at the meeting was that the leadership of the Rivers Assembly led by Martin Amaewhule shall be recognized alongside 27 members who resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Also, it was resolved that the Rivers State House of Assembly shall choose where they want to sit and conduct their legislative business without interference or hindrance from the Executive arm of government.

It was resolved that the Rivers Governor shall re-present the state 2024 budget to a properly constituted Rivers State House of Assembly and the names of all the commissioners who resigned their appointments because of the political crisis in the state should be resubmitted to the House of Assembly for approval.

The last resolution reached was that there should not be a caretaker committee for the local
governments in the state and the dissolution of the Local Government administration is null and void and shall not be recognized.

Alleged Cause of the Rivers Political Crisis

Chief Anabs Sara-Igbe, a Rivers state elder statesman and Ijaw leader, on December 16, alleged that root cause of the Rivers political crisis was the mismanagement of the Rivers state internally generated revenue (IGR) by officers in Fubara’s government who are loyalist of former governor Nyesom Wike.

He stated, “What is the problem? Wike has come to tell the world that he was fighting Sim because Sim wanted to take his structure. What is the structure six months after elections; we are not close to elections, so what has structure got to do?

“Let me tell you about the structure; before Wike left government, the state was making over N10bn internally generated revenue (monthly). When he left, the IGR came down to N6bn. And the governor, a former Accountant General of the state, asked questions and in the process he engaged somebody to look at the books, and the commissioner of finance reported to Wike and the former governor got angry. That is the structure.

Before the intervention of President Tinubu, the crisis has resulted in the demolition of the state assembly complex and the decamping of 27 members of the state assembly.